Vote 2005: Wednesday's news ratings

Each day during the election campaign, Digital Spy will be tracking the performance of the major news broadcasters. Check in daily for a roundup of the latest ratings for the terrestrial news programmes and the rolling news channels.

Overnight data for Wednesday, April 20 follows.

Terrestrials: Summary

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's joint appearance on the GMTV sofas was seen by an average of 1.55 million (29.3%) from 7am.

The PM's later grilling on the The Paxman Interviews brought in an average of 2.53 million (12.3%) to BBC One from 7.30pm.

Elsewhere, the Conservative Party's latest election broadcast was seen by an aggregate audience of 12.06 million across the evening - down from Labour's 14.92 million on Tuesday night.

News Channels: Summary

A lacklustre day of campaigning was reflected in the ratings for the news channels. As usual, Sky News led for most of the day with a peak average of 66,000 (1.28%) between 3pm and 5pm.

Sunrise saw an unusually high audience - around 50% up on average - with 62,000 (2.27%) between 6am and 9.30am. News 24 entertained a peak of 61,000 (0.71%) for its 11pm bulletin.

News channels: Primetime Breakdown

7pm - 8pm
Sky News (The Boulton Factor): 24,000 (0.18%)
News 24: 14,000 (0.1%)

8pm - 9pm
Sky News: 12,000 (0.08%)
News 24: 14,000 (0.09%)

9pm - 10pm
Sky News: 18,000 (0.12%)
News 24: 38,000 (0.24%)

10pm - 11pm
Sky News: 26,000 (0.20%)
News 24: 34,000 (0.25%)

Ratings data supplied by ViewingFigures.com